GOP supporters sue over new congressional redistricting maps

Republican backers have filed a lawsuit claiming New York’s new congressional maps are unconstitutional.

Fourteen upstate plaintiffs claimed the State Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul failed to follow a constitutional amendment, adopted in 2014, for redrawing district lines and also "gerrymandered" district boundaries to unfairly favor Democrats.

"The maps just signed into law are unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders that attempt to rig New York elections for the next decade in defiance of the will of the voters and with blatant disregard for New York’s Constitution. These new maps must be struck down," said George Winner Jr. and Misha Tseytlin, attorneys for the plaintiffs, in a statement accompanying the claim.

"Republicans threatened to sue long before the lines were even proposed," said Michael Whyland, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx). "We are confident the maps will withstand any court challenge."

Hochul’s office didn’t immediately comment.

The lawsuit was filed in Steuben County, one of the most Republican counties in the state. The plaintiffs are from several upstate congressional districts that were significantly altered when the Hochul signed the new maps into law Thursday. Winner is a former Republican state legislator who represented the Elmira area for 30 years.

The Democratic-dominated State Legislature approved the new maps Wednesday as part of the once-a-decade process of redistricting based on the latest U.S. Census. Because of population changes, New York is losing one seat — dropping to 26 — and forcing a significant redrawing of its congressional map.

The state’s new congressional map appears to favor Democrats in as many of 22 of the state’s 26 districts, according to political analysts. That would be a sharp change from the state’s current roster of 19 Democrats and 8 Republicans and provide the party a boost in the national fight for control of Congress.

The lawsuit is based on the idea the Legislature failed to follow a redistricting process outlined by a 2014 constitutional amendment. It created a redistricting commission to draw up new proposals for congressional maps. But because it had five Democrats and five Republicans, watchdog groups had long warned the panel would deadlock, which, per the new law, would give the mapmaking power back to the legislature.

And that’s largely what happened.

The panel presented two dueling maps to legislators in early January, which were rejected.

The lawsuit says the commission was obligated to present a second set of maps to the legislature, which could take charge only after once again rejecting the proposed plans. But the panel, amid partisan finger-pointing, never did. Therefore, the plaintiffs claim, the legislature never had the authority to take charge.

Democrats said the flawed design of the commission — enacted when the GOP controlled the Senate in 2014 — led to the stalemate.

"When you set up a commission with an equal number from both parties, you’ll get deadlock," said Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) during Senate debate on the redistricting bill. "We’re just dealing with the process that you handed us."

Even if the court says legislators were authorized, the plaintiffs said the maps should be rejected because they are unfair.

"If this court holds that the legislature somehow had the authority to adopt a replacement map notwithstanding these procedural failures," plaintiffs said in the lawsuit, "this court should reject it as a matter of substance, as the map is an obviously unconstitutional partisan and incumbent-protection gerrymander."